Runaways Place
by FluffyShallEatYou
Summary: Leo and the seven go to a place he hasn't been to for a while. He metes some old friends that might be more than they seem Rating subject to change to T, depending on progress of story. Hiatus over. Not updated often, but at least twice a month.
1. Chapter 1

description: the seven return to a place Leo's been missing for a while. Old friends just make a demigods life mire confusing.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. The Heroes of Olympus and The Percy Jackson Series belong to Rick Riordan, who I am not.

Authors Note: this is AU from pretty much the end of Son Of Neptune on. Time gaps will be filled in as the story progresses. Some characters may be slightly OOC, but I try to make them as close to themselves as I can.

Land of The Lost

Chapter One

Leo looked around carefully at his surroundings. He knew this city much better than his companions. He had spent several months here about two years ago, a little before he had been sent to the Wilderness School. He had liked it here. Not enough to stay, obviously, but enough that he was okay that they were here. Maybe he would drop in on the friends he had made while here. He thought that would be fun if they had the time. Of course, the concept of having the time was doubtful. They were in fact, on a time scheduled mission.

Not much had changed here. The buildings were as grimy as ever, and the people were just as loud. The only real difference was the sheer mass of gray cloud covering the city, as if it were warning the mortals of the impending apocalypse. Which, was quite possibly the reason the clouds were there. That or to make them afraid. That was also likely.

He glanced at his companions, wondering, only a little, what there thoughts of this place were. Piper looked as if she was completely zoning out, but that didn't really surprise Leo after the blow she had taken to the head a few miles back. Jason didn't seem to care about anything except Piper at the moment, if the concerned glances he was giving her were any indication. Leo wasn't very worried. Beauty Queen was tough. She'd be fine within a few hours. Annabeth didn't seem impressed at all. She looked more as if she was analyzing the structures of the city and determining the best places yo fight and or escape. Which was both possible and probably. Percy, like he almost always did when Leo saw him, looked on edge. He seemed nervous, but the guy always seemed nervous. For as many stories Leo had heard back at camp about how strong he was, and how he was such a laugh, he wasn't seeing much of either.

Hazel and Frank were standing close together, and Hazel's eyes were directed towards the ground. Franks were, as Leo was positive the were at all times, directed towards Hazel.

Finally, Leo realized that they had all been standing there in the street silently for more than two minutes.  
>"Why're we just standing here?" He asked incredulously, forcing a grin on his face. "This place is chill, and I wanna check out the game shop. " he pointed towards a Game Stop a few yards away.<p>

That brought everyone back to earth.

"We're not here to look at games Leo. " Annabeth said sounding irritated "We're here because you said that Festus needs oil, and this was the closet city."

That was true. Festus had needed more oil. Of course, he could've waited a day or two, but Leo knew where to go here, and he had figured Pipes could use a break from traveling. Plus Leo really did want to see how the others here were doing.

"Yeah," he admitted "but I don't think Pipes should be traveling much with her head, so I figured maybe we'd stay the night here. Therefor, Leo gets to go to Game Stop."  
>Annabeth bit her lip. She like plans, Leo knew, which wasn't surprising since her mother was the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy, and Leo could see her struggling with approving this on the spot made up plan.<p>

"Well, you are right about Piper," she said hesitantly, " But where would we stay, we don't have enough money for a hotel room." She frowned at him as if he must have eaten all of their money in the dead of night.

Leo grinned this was working out better than he had thought. "Leave the accommodations to me. I've got a few connections in this city."

He could practically see the gears turning in the daughter of Athena's brain, as she contemplated this.

"Alright." She announce after a few moments. "I suppose one night couldn't hurt. But you do need to show us these accommodations, because if Piper shouldn't be traveling with her head, then I don't want her sleeping in a sewer." She said this sternly, as if Leo had suggested the spend the night in a sewer.

Instead of taking offense Leo just kept grinning

"Of course, let your deaf captain Leo lead the way." And he began walking in the direction of the the Runaways Place.

That was what the had called it. It was sort of a rest stop for kids who had no where to go. Some kids lived there, others just stayed for however long they planned to be in the city, no questions asked. It was a safe place. They had a system of jobs, and the older kids got money and food, and they kept things running. They took care of each other there, and Leo had made numerous friend in the few months he had stayed.

Of course, they were careful too, for instance, when you first showed up, they didn't tell you how many kids were there, or how long they had been there, as a precaution. Protecting themselves and others from the threats of the state finding them.

As the walked, Leo found himself giving his friends a tour.

As they passed a McDonalds, he found himself describing an instance in which he had been inside.

"And they started freaking out, like, dude, wheres the ghost! Why as the French Fries floating?, and they didn't even notice me filling four cups of soda."

He pointed out places that had good food, and the places that smelt like old sewage, and lost himself in memories of being fourteen, and really not caring about anything but making the kids that had taken him in laugh.

He missed that.

In all his talking, he was surprised to find himself stopped at a cement building covered in graffiti, facing a small metal door spray painted with the letters RAP. Most people assumed that the person that had took a spray pianist can to the building really liked rap music. But Leo knew what it really meant.

Runaways Place.


	2. Chapter 2

Do it's been ages, and this chapter is kinda short, but it's mostly a filler, as the ending suggests its about to get a lot more interesting. So those names in here? Legit things. If I was Chris I would make everyone call me the whole thing just to see how many people say it wrong.

sp yeah, once again, i don't own PJO or HOO which would be awesome. I don't own the seven, but I do own the triplets with unusual names, and the runaways place.

Yeah, so go little Leo, you're best friends were all girls.

* * *

><p>Leo grinned as he knocked on the door, I'm a pattern that he hoped hadn't been changed.<p>

Taptap. Pause. Tap. Pause again. Taptaptap.

He waited, as his companions all gave him slightly skeptical looks.

Then, after a few moments, the door opened. Just a crack, but enough to see a short thin girl standing behind it.

Her eyes widened when she saw him.

"Valdez?" She blinked a couple times, as if she couldn't believe he was actually there.

"It's been forever! What are you doing back in town? Actually scratch that, where have you been?"

Her black-brown eyes dazzled with curiosity.

"Around." Leo replied grinning back at her. Their hights were similar enough that he could look her in the eye without looking either up nor down. "My friends and I need a place to stay the night, mind if we crash?"

"Who am I to turn you away?" She asked, raising a thin black eyebrow, "I'll even throw in a cot in place of a sleeping bag."

It was Leo's turn to raise his eyebrow.

"Really? And where exactly is the catch in that offer?"

She grinned in reply,

"It's nothing major, just tell me my name."

Now, that wouldn't sound like a difficult thing to do, especially since he had recognized her on sight, but it really was.

It wasn't that Leo had forgotten her name, it was just that this girl in question could have been any of three.

See, back when he had stayed at the RAP, his best friends had been a group of identical triplets.

They looked exactly the same, dressed the same style, cut their hair the same way.

He had never been able to tell then apart on sight, but after a while in their presence it was usually pretty easy to guess which one was which.

The triplets parents had had a very odd taste in names.

First, there was Artemisia, who was the eldest. She had a thing for throwing knives, and liked to earn money by sneaking into bars and beating drunk guys at darts.

When Leo thought about that he was a little amused by the similarity between her name, and Artemis'.

Then there was Arcadia-Calida, who preferred to be called Ace, the e in reference to her middle name of Esmeralda. She was the most tomboyish of the group, and in Leo's mind the most likely to ask him something like this.

And then, there was Christolonsoelle, who though her name was absolutely ridiculous, and refused to answer to anything other than Chris.

The triplets had, like him, been born in Texas, and been raised solely by their mother.

There mother, according to them, was an illegal Mexican immigrant, only in the US because she had hoped to track down the girls rich American father.

She was unsuccessful, and ended up having no way back to Mexico, stayed with her daughters in America. The girls hadn't known English until they were eight years old.

Their mother had died when they were ten, and they had ditched social services almost immediately.

They'd only been caught a couple of times since.

"That is so not fair!" He exclaimed, having next to no idea which sister he was speaking to.

"Umm Leo," he heard Jason's voice break in from behind him, "how exactly is that a difficult question?"

Leo was still glaring at the triplet's face when he answered.

"Because she looks exactly like her two sisters."

"Oh, well that's nice and all, but can you hurry up a bit, because I think Piper really needs to sit down for a bit."

"Oh, yeah, sorry Beauty Queen,"

Leo glanced at her guiltily. He had forgotten entirely about her injury.

"Alright,alright, ummmmm... Ace?"

"Well technically..." She trailed off with a wicked grin.

Yup. He was definitely right. He could never picture Chris wearing that expression, being as soft spoken as she was, and Artemisia would've just given him a flat no and let them in.

As if was. Ace pulled open the door to allow them to step inside.

"Right, so Ace these are my friends, Frank, Hazel, Jason, Piper, Annabeth, and Percy." He said as soon as the door shit behind them, pointing to each person when he said there name. "Guys this is Arcadia-Calida, who goes by Ace."

"Umm, Leo?" Ace's voice was suddenly very meek. "Why are you're friends all carrying sharp pointy weapons?"


	3. Chapter 3

Leo stared at Ace with wide eyes. He hadn't banked on anyone noticing the weapons. As far as he knew, the mist should've covered that up. All he could think of to reply was;

"Umm... What weapons?"

Ace raised an eyebrow, and scowled at him.

"Don't play dumb with me Valdez. What the hell kind of mess have you gotten yourself into? It better not be gangs. I swear to god, if you're involved in a gang, you will die. As in I will personally kill you. Violently. With a-"

Leo cut her off there. He really didn't want to know what her idea of a violent homicide was.

"I'm not in a gang. And no, you wouldn't, because Artemisia would kill me before you got a chance to find something to kill me with."

"Damn right I would."

Leo had to take a minute to absorb the fact that Artemisia was standing next to Ace now.

"What this I hear about you being in a gang, Monkey?"

"I'm not in gang!" Leo said again. Honestly, why was that their first assumption? "And don't call me that!"

"Than what's with the knife strapped to blondey's arm? And I will call you that, because it's too much work to say 'Grease Monkey' every time I address you."

"I'll explain the weapons later! And what's wrong with calling me by my name!"

Of course, Leo knew exactly what was wrong with that, and it was, simply, that Artemisia didn't like to call people by their actual names. Not even her sisters. However, she venometly refused to allow anyone call her anything other than her proper name.

She glared at him for a moment, than flicked her gaze to piper, who had, by then, resorted to using Jason as a crutch. She looked as if she would fall over any minute.

Artemisia turned to her sister.

"Go get Chrissy. And set up a cot by the med stuff."

Ace immediately did as her sister told her, and exited the small faux room, which had one wall of cement, and three built with cardboard boxes.

"We're talking later." She addressed at Leo.

Artemisia was the oldest of the triplets, and had always been very take charge. Both of her sisters had always seemed happy to let her.

"Hey, girl." She spoke walking up to Piper, using a much quieter tone of voice. "What's your name?"

Piper blinked at her for a moment, the answered her.

"'M Piper." The entire group gave her worries looks. She was getting worse. It had definitely been a good call to stay the night in the city. And seeing as they were out of both nectar and ambrosia, the Rap almost definitely had medical supplies that they didn't have on the boat.

Artemisia met her eyes, worry in their depths. She might not have been the warmest of people, but years of looking out for her sisters and herself had created a very nurturing person out of her when someone was injured.

"Okay, Piper, we're gonna see what we can do for you. Until then, you and your friends are gonna follow me. Can you stay on your feet for a few minutes?" Then she moved her glare to Leo. "Go get her a water bottle!"

Leo just blinked for a moment.

Then Artemisia's order kicked in, and he met Jason's gaze, and said;

"It's fine. Stick with Artemisia or one of her sisters. I'll meet you guys at the med area." Then he headed out of the entrance area, and towards where he hoped that they still kept the water bottles.

While he walked, he was stopped by a few kids that had been at Rap the last time he was there.

"Valdez! Is that you?"

"Leo! Finally get away from the state?"

"Little Lion Man!"

That one bugged him. It was the nickname given to him by one of those thuggy kids. One of the ones that was likely to join a gang, and possibly beat the stuffing out of Leo if he protested the use of the name.

The water was kept in the same place.

It was in the trading both run by a guy who had been there for ages. Leo was positive that he was eighteen by then, but he had never left.

"Joey! My man! Ya mind sliding me a bottle of water? Arty wants it." Of course as much as Artemisia protested the shortening of her name, everyone called her Arty when she wasn't around. It was just easier.

"Leo!" Joey exclaimed. "When'd you get back?"

Leo grinned.

"'Bout five minutes ago."

"And Arty's already got you waiting on her hand and foot?" He shook his head. "Harsh."

"Water," Leo prompted, not wanting to get in to detail of what was going on. It was bad enough that he had to explain the weapons to Arty and Ace, and probably Chrissy to, because if the mist didn't affect either of them than it was unlikely that it would affect her either.

Joe slid a bottle of water over to him, and Leo grabbed it and left quickly.

As he trekked through the main building, Leo couldn't help feel as if everything was a bit surreal. Which, he thought was kind of funny. Six months ago he had found out that his father was a Greek god, he had never actually known his best friend, and that an ancient goddess of the earth was going to try and destroy the world, but he was freaking out because he was revisiting somewhere that he had once stayed? Pathetic, Valdez.

He reached the medical area only a few moments after leaving Joe at his station. There he found Piper sitting on a cot, with one of the triplets waving a flashlight in front of her eyes, Jason standing directly behind her, frowning.

Percy was sitting cross-legged on the floor, while Annabeth stood straight in a soldier-at-attention kind of way. Hazel was staring at Piper with concern in her eyes, and Frank was giving Hazel moony eyes. Nothing new there.

Another one of the triplets, Artemisia judging by the way she was holding herself stood at the entrance of the med area.

The med area was able to have an entrance, because it was sectioned of from the rest of the building by curtains, in an attempt to give patients some semblance of privacy.

Leo walked up to the triplet with the flashlight, Chrissy, he guessed, because Chrissy was in charge of the medical stuff.

He tapped her on the shoulder, and handed her the water bottle.

"Thanks" she muttered, turning back to Piper.

After a few moments she addressed her gaze to Jason.

"She hit her head?"

To Leo it seemed like Jason was shocked to be addressed. It was if he had been pulled out of his own little world.

"Yeah."

Chrissy nodded to herself, in that way the always made everyone feel nervous.

"How long ago?"

That sent them all for a spin. How long ago? They hadn't been doing a very good job keeping track of time since they had left Camp Jupiter. They'd been sailing non-stop, and sleeping whenever they could. The only times they'd been judging were sun-up, and down.

Annabeth was the one who eventually replied.

"What's today?" She asked.

Artemisia raised her eyebrows while Ace snorted from the corner she was sitting in.

Chrissy replied without any of those dramatics, which Leo was grateful for. They didn't need to be reminded how messed up their situation was by a group of teenage runaways that lived in an underground cement building.

"Tuesday"

Huh. It'd only been three days. Felt like longer.

Well Pipes had hit her head right after the first sun rise so two days. Huh.

"Two days" Leo echoed out loud.

Chrissy pursed her lips, but didn't say anything fro a few moments, then-

"She has a mild concussion at least. There isn't much I can do for that. Keep her hydrated, not running or anything that could make her short of breath, nothing to jostle her head too much."

Leo watched his friends exchange glances, and knew that they were thinking the exact same thing that he was.

No way was that going to happen. Especially when they got back on the boat.

But none of them said a word.

"Now," Chrissy spoke again, turning to face him, "I believe you have some explaining to do, Leo"


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for the late update, life is chaos right now. I own nothing. **

* * *

><p>Leo's friends were staring at him in shock. Both the ones from the Argo II and the ones from the Rap. The only one with a straight face was Artemisia.<p>

"Ok." she said as he finished explaining.

"OKAY?" yelled Ace in something like outrage mixed with confusion. "You believe him? That him and his friend are monster hunting half-gods! Have you gone nuts, Atemisia!" Her eyes were wide and she was flailing her arms in a way that Leo would have normally found amusing. Chrissy was just staring at him slack jawed. Not a word came out of her mouth.

So that was why two thirds of the triplets were look at him as if he had just grown a second head.

His demi-god friends were staring at him because he had just told the truth. Except Percy, who looked at him approvingly.

"You told the truth." He said with his head cocked to the side slightly, looking at the twins with some new consideration.

Then their friends looked at Percy like he was the crazy person. That was nice.

"You aren't going to yell at me, or something for telling them? Isn't that like, a major, no-no?" Leo asked him. he had been sure that he'd be in for a major lecture. Of course that still could be coming from Annabeth.

Percy snorted.

"the last time I told a mortal friend about demi-gods, she ended up being our oracle. Its a good sign that one of them believes you. For all we know they could end up helping us."

Leo stared. Huh. He never had heard how Rachel had ended up as the oracle. he had known that she was mortal, but he had just assumed that Chiron or someone had tracked her down, or maybe it was a hereditary thing or something. Apparently not.

"You knew Rachel before she breathed green smoke?"

Percy smirked a little.

"We went to school together."

"Huh."

Thats when Annabeth broke in.

"Do you realize how dangerous telling them was, Leo? It puts them even more on Gaea's radar than already will be just for helping us. Besides, how do you know they aren't monsters? Do you know how rare identical triplets are? And they can all see through the mist?"

Well. he hadn't thought about it being dangerous for them. He actually hadn't thought about much except that some of his best friends wanted an explanation, and he really hadn't wanted to lie to them. Maybe that would've been better. But there was also something he needed to correct.

"they aren't monsters. No way. I've known them for years. They've been here since they were real little. Everyone knows them. They aren't monsters."

Annabeth sighed that sigh see did every time she didn't want to tell him something.

"Leo... Sometimes the best masks for monsters are the most deep rooted ones. the ones that have no flaw."

"Hello! We're standing right here!", one of the triplets broke in.

The group of half-bloods turned back to face them.

"Sorry," Leo said, turning a glare on Annabeth. "Some people don't think i should have told you the truth."

Atemisia snorted.

"Well its a bit late for them to complaining, isn't it? It's not like you can wipe our minds or something."

Annabeth's eyes narrowed as if considering that as an option.

"No." she decided. "I don't think Piper could pull that off. Not permanently anyway. Definitely not in this condition."

"Wait.' Chrissy said. "You could actually do that?"

'I just said we couldn't!" Annabeth responded with irritation.

"Okay! What the hell, Leo? You're just standing there and your friends are talking about wiping our minds like something out of friggin' Harry Potter, and i think you need to give a bit more in depth explanation of what this is." Ace said with wide eyes, her lips in the pout that they always formed when she was frustrated.

Leo recognized that as a sign of danger. When Atemisia got upset, she glared and yelled. Chrissy got scary calm, but it was always the wort with Ace who, for all of her sarcasm and attempts at recreating Artemisia's cool indifference, cried.

He did not want to be responsible for a crying Ace.

"Okay. Okay. So you know the whole part gods thing that I mentioned?" He asked her, meeting her eyes, searching for any hint of oncoming none as she gave him a slow nod, he continued. "So gods all have specific domains of power, right, like... like.. umm have you guys seen Hercules?"

Artemisia raised her eyebrow at him in an are-you-serious? expression, while Ace's eyes widened slowly, and Chrissy nodded with a mystified expression on her face.

"Right, so its not the best example, but you know how his dad is Zeus, right? And Zeus has his lightning bolt. All the gods have something like that. Like, Annabeth here," he motioned at Annabeth, who had been listening to his explanation with a mixture of irritation and amusement spread across her face. "Her mom is Athena, the goddess of wisdom, so Annabeth is like, super smart. Well Pipes, her mom is the goddess of love and lust and beauty and all that, so she's like, ultra charming. You'll believe anything she wants you to, do what she wants. Don't think she could make you forget though. that's kinda big. Don't know any demi-gods who could actually do that."

'Maybe a Hypnos kid. Or Hecate. Or even a Dionysus"

Leo was confused at that one. By the look on everyone else's faces, they were just as confused as him.

"Dionysus?" asked Jason, scrunching up his face.

"Yeah, he's the god of insanity and all that, and losing chunks of memory like that could be the symptom of a mental disorder."

Whatever you say, dude.

"yeah well, that's how it works. Like a kid of Hermes would be good at stealing things, or an Apollo kid would be awesome at archery, and-."

He stopped looking at the expressions on the faces of the triplets.

"there's a god named Apollo?"

"Yeah why- oh. no. It has nothing to do with you guys."he responded.

"Um, someone want to explain?' Asked hazel from the corner that she had been sitting silently in.

'Our last name is Apollo." Chrissy said, frowning.

'I thought you guys were Hispanic?" Frank asked.

Artemisia rolled her eyes.

"We are. But our father was some rich american man. Fred Apollo."


	5. Chapter 5

"Fred?' Said Percy, mouth agape. Leo didn't really understand exactly why Percy felt the need to play the part of a snake and unlock his jaw. Yeah, it was odd that the triplets father had the last name of a god but he had met a couple of people with last names like Zeus before. It wasn't that unusual.

Percy stared at the triplets for a few moments. Then he spoke.

'Well at least it explains some things. Like how you can all see through the mist."

"What on earth are you talking about, Percy?" Asked Hazel, pulling her eyebrows together, confusion in her golden eyes.

"Fred." He stated simply. "That's the name that Apollo used when he was helping me on a quest when he wasn't supposed to."

"So you think-" Annabeth began, but was interrupted abruptly.

"Yeah, I do." Percy said. He turned to Artemisia-Leo could tell it was her because the expression on her face was harder than any that Ace or Chrissy could ever have- and asked, "An of you guys good with things involving targets? Long range shooting? Basketball?"

Something hit Leo, at that moment. "Artemisia throws knifes for money at a bar. Chrissy works with medicine. Ace...She's a writer. don't think-"

"I just said I did, but yeah."

huh.

The triplets. Demi-gods. Daughters of Apollo if the were right. That was... kind of relieving.

As much as Leo liked his cabin mates- his siblings-from camp, he didn't really know most of them very well. And they didn't know him. But with the triplets, they had seen each other at their best and worst, and all knew each others life stories. Jason... Well he didn't know much about Jason, because Jason didn't now much about Jason, and with Piper, they had no idea of how much of the wilderness school was real. For all either of them knew, they could've hated each other.

Don't get him wrong, he loved them, he really did, and they had been through hell together. But something about all the lies and secrets there bugged Leo.

"Huh." spoke Chrissy, brow furrowed. "Huh." she repeated.

"Everybody's insane. The world has gone nuts." There was this look in Ace's eye that Leo had never seen. Absolute panic.

He couldn't remember having that feeling when he had found out he was a demi-god. Everything had moved to fast those first few days, and after getting back from the quest, he had been way to busy building the Argo II to freak out. Or maybe he was just weird.

'Ace" he spoke slowly. "You need to calm down for a sec. No freak outs. Calm rational thoughts."

"Rational thoughts!" she practically shrieked at him. "Rational. NOne of this is rational. you talking about mythical gods and carrying around weapons, and now you telling us that our dad was a god, and they actually believe you! You believe you! Nothing about this has any rationality to it!"

Leo scratched his neck, feeling uncomfortable. "You kind of get used to the insanity after a while, Ace. Uh Pipes? You in any condition to give a hand in calming her down"

Piper wrinkled her nose. "Don't call me that, Leo." she sighed. "Maybe? I can try, but I'm not sure how well it will work."

Leo nodded. "Thats alright, we only need her to calm down long enough to get used to the idea. Nothing more than a few minutes, but really don't want a bunch of people coming over."

Piper nodded. "hey Ace," she spoke in a gentle tone. "You really should just calm down for a minute. I mean, you really dont want people cming over, do you?"

Ace looked at her, a slightly dazed look in her eyes. "Yeah... No, don't want anyone coming over... Calm sounds nice.

"It does, doesn't it?" Piper continued", before closing her eyes for a moment.

Having Piper charm speak Ace made leo feel a little guilty, but they really didn't need a bunch of people coming over, and If she had gotten much louder, than it couldve been a serious problem. BUt still, having to force her to do something she had obviously not wanted to do really bothered Leo. Sometimes, he really hated the whole Demigod business.


	6. READ THIS FOR IMPORTANT INFO

**OKAY, So I've been gone for a while, and in my absence of posting I have looked over all of my stories. None of them are really good enough to be shared, so I am putting them all on hiatus until further notice. I will be re-writing most of them, but I may scrap some. I'm sorry for the inconvenience for those of you who actually read my stories, but I feel like none of them can really be savaged at this point. **


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